The Handmaid's Tale: A Plot Summary

Summary: This essay outlines the plot of The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. In the futuristic Republic of Gilead, under the dictatorship of conservative Christians, the minority of women who are fertile are trained to be “handmaids” - birth-mothers for the upper-class population.

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood is a dystopia about a world where unrealistic things take place, it is set in the futuristic Republic of Gilead. Sometime in the future, conservative Christians take control of America and establish a dictatorship. Most women in Gilead are infertile after being exposed to pesticides, nuclear waste, or leakages from chemical weapons. The few fertile women left are taken to camps and trained to be handmaids - birth-mothers for the upper-class population of Gilead.

Infertile women are sent either to clean up toxic waste (unwomen) or to become "Marthas,." No women in the Republic are permitted to be openly sexual; sex is for the means of reproduction only. Throughout the novel it is important to remember that it has biblical meaning, in the Bible Eve was the first woman. She was made from Adam as his companion and...